Justice League International #1

I'm really curious about the brown guy with the glowing fork.

Yesterday I posted my thoughts on Stormwatch #1. I concluded that while some of the characters were interesting, the writing was a little unsophisticated and a little confusing.

JLI #1, is also unsophisticated, confusing, but none of the characters are interesting. I don't mean to be overly negative, but this book is a failure.

I picked up this series because I'm a fan of Booster Gold. Booster is a dude from the future that uses future technology and knowledge to be a superhero. What makes him engaging is that he isn't a hero at all. He craves stardom, and makes bad decisions as a result. This is often comical, but it also creates the potential for character development. That is something you don't get as much with a Batman or Wonderwoman.

Skeets! Billy West ta boot in JLU.

I'm also a sucker for obscure heroes. I love seeing a crew of people that aren't normally in the limelight, showing off the powers that explain why they aren't normally in the limelight. Writing stories for these kinds of heroes requires a little more creativity because you can't just have a big monster come out of the ground and have them go to town on it. This is what makes their stories so fun to read however. They solve a different sort of problems from the A team, and in different ways.

And JLI has a bunch of heroes that I don't know, which is great, but we don't spend any time getting to know them before the main chunk of the story starts. Each are name dropped, displayed in a panel, and we are told where they are from. Then, the whole thing rushes towards the first story without giving the team much time to interact.

And that sums up the two major problems with this book, it relies too much on previous knowledge of these characters and the DC world, and it moves at a pace the story doesn't warrant.

Some very minor spoilers to follow.

I'm really fine with not knowing who people are, or what they can do, as long as you give them an opportunity to show that off at some point, both powers and character. There is a lot to be said for the slow divulge. But that is something that doesn't necessarily fit a mainstream JL type title. If the story is going to be superhero pulp, don't go for the long character reveal. Just doesn't fit.

In the final chunk of the book, the JLI races off to investigate something and they suddenly become involved in a large physical conflict. You know, super hero action stuff, with punching and power-using. But the action is depicted in big scenes rather than in smaller individual panels.

By quickly focusing on each character and how they handle the threat we could have been given a nice glimpse/introduction to the personality and powers of each JLI member. Instead, there are these large ensemble action tableaus where everyone is doing some generic something. Powers are used, but in the busy glut action, I can only garner a small amount of information about how the various members are doing. Apparently this one can glow, this one can jetpack, and this guy just seems to stand heroically. Batman also thinks this lady isn't pulling her wait. She think Batman is a prick.

I just wished there was some time to get to know these characters before the story plunged ahead. Really, a pair of conflicts occur before and at the same time as the main conflict that are just as engaging, if not more so. I'd rather see an opening issue that deals with group dynamics, and the socio-political implication of a UN mandated JL. Then again, maybe I'm a dullard.

More specific spoilers to follow.

One of the conflicts that I am talking about above is the protests about how the UN took over the Hall of Justice so that the JLI could use it as a home base. I do like the idea that the UN is trying to form a team, and that they do it in a politically unpopular way. That's a good idea, that the public doesn't want this international Justice League. But I don't really understand why the public is so mad about the Hall of Justice though.

Which, I had to look up. The Hall of Justice is like a national museum of superheroes, and obviously, the public finds it offensive that a team, created by the UN and supposedly representing international interests, would set up shop in an American monument.

Maybe I'm thick, but maybe I shouldn't have to look this stuff up to even partially understand why these people are willing to blow a building up over. Remember, this is a DC universe reboot...

So it seems like the arc of this first run is already apparent. The JLI will prove their worthiness to the American people, Green Lantern will join the team, and Booster Gold will prove himself a hero. I'll pass.

Unless things drastically change, I do not feel the need to pick this one up next month. Sorry Booster. Maybe we can hook up at some other time. Like on Batman Brave and the Bold.

Shopping Lists and Dissapointment

I decided a while ago that when September rolled around and the whole DCnU thing launched officially I was going to start buying comics. While, I've never bought comics on a week-by-week basis, I'm no stranger to comics either. I've studied them in university and I have purchased/read many assorted collections or graphic novels. I have a healthy respect for the medium.

And I know enough about superheroes to get by in a crowded comic-con line too. I actually like superheroes and superhero narratives. I've seen the movies, watched the cartoons, read the wiki articles. But that is where it stops, because, seriously, that back log of overly complex and conflicting canon really makes me avoid superhero comics as a whole.

That's why I thought this reboot for DCnU was a fantastic idea. I gotta be smack dab near the middle of DC's target demographic. If I don't want to read about BATMAN every month, something is wrong.

Last Wednesday, I tried to get to the comic shop to pick up the new Justice League #1. Because of work and life I never managed to get there during open hours. And, honestly, Justice League doesn't really spark much or an interest so I wasn't too inclined to try too hard to get myself a copy.

But this Wednesday, September 7th, was a day I was excited for. First off, we had Jeff Lemire's Animal Man. I've been a fan of Lemire's since he was still publishing the Essex County stuff and I just recently started reading Sweet Tooth. I also love Grant Morrison's work with Animal Man too. So the combo of Lemire and Animal Man really held my interest in the DCnU itself.

I also wanted to get my hands on the new Batgirl. Aside from already selling out it's first two prints, I wanted to try reading a comic by a team a women. The medium has its issues with women and feminism so I wanted to see what the relaunch would do to try to solve that.

What I hoped to pick up today at the comic shop:

Animal Man  
Batgirl 
Swamp Thing (supposedly one of DC's darker and more horror oriented new books) 
Stormwatch (I'm interested in the idea of merging canons and worlds)
and then maybe Superman and Batman titles if they looked okay in a flip through.

I had to stay late at work today though so I didn't get to the comic store very early and I could tell by the selection. Both Animal Man and Batgirl were already sold out. In the end, I picked up:

Swamp Thing
Superman Action Comics
Justice League International (BOOSTER GOLD!!!)
Stormwatch

I've already read two of them and I feel pretty positive about the experience so far. I'm looking forward to my potential new life as a month-by-month comic reader.

Discussion on each book to come in the next week.

Now, to find those two books.